Toyota GAZOO Racing’s Kazuki Nakajima was fastest overall during the first two-hour qualifying practice session held on Wednesday. Nakajima’s lap of 154.515 mph was a tenth of a second faster than Kamui Kobayashi in the No. 7 Toyota.

The time set by Nakajima is considered to be a track record, even though it is slower than last year’s pole time by multiple seconds. The reasoning here is that there have been track renovations in the past year at the Circuit de la Sarthe. The track length has actually been shortened by three meters. In the eyes of the FIA and the ACO, it is considered to be a “new track.” As a result, the previous records have been thrown out.

The two Toyotas have two full seconds on the rest of the LMP1 class. SMP Racing’s Stéphane Sarrazin qualified third in the No. 17 BR Engineering BR1, followed by REBELLION Racing’s Bruno Senna. Gustavo Menezes was fifth fastest.

In LMP2, IDEC Sport’s No. 48 ORECA 07-Gibson had been the fastest car in class all day. When the time came to produce, they laid it on the line. Paul-Loup Chatin turned in a lap at 148.721 mph to claim provisional pole in the LMP2 class. The lap was actually four-tenths of a second faster than the 2017 LMP2 pole and good enough for ninth overall.

In GTE-Pro, the Porsche GT Team dominated the day. The team went 1-2-3 in Free Practice early in the day. Qualifying wasn’t impressive, but they did take the top two places in class. Gianmaria Bruni put the No. 91 Porsche 911 RSR on pole with a lap right at the beginning of the session at 133.981 mph, good enough for 31st overall.

Bruni’s lap was considered so good that it was the only lap at speed the No. 91 set in the session. And for good reason. Bruni’s lap ended up nearly 1.6 seconds faster than anyone else in GTE-Pro. Second was Michael Christensen in the No. 92 Porsche, sporting a paint scheme reminiscent of “The Pig,” the No. 23 Porsche 917/20 that raced at Le Mans in 1971.

There are two more rounds of qualifying practice scheduled for Thursday at the Circuit de la Sarthe. Qualifying Practice No. 2 is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. EDT and run for two hours. The final session will start at 4 p.m. EDT and run for two more hours. The final session may see rain falling. Despite that, you’ll likely see drivers on-track as time on track during qualifying is realistically required in order to get time in the dark.

Both sessions will be streamed live at MotorTrend.com. Coverage of Qualifying Practice No. 2 will begin at 12:45 p.m. EDT, while coverage of the final practice will begin at 3:45.

About Phil Allaway

Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor. Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as Tony Stewart's Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions.